What is important in life? Yesterday I visited a friend in Toronto in one of the highest income neighbourhoods. As I drive down his street it's getting dark and now you can see inside the windows of all these swanky many thousand square foot homes. You know they want you to see inside because they leave the shutters open and all the interior lights on. Another side to all this, as I see it, and from the many large (10,000 square foot+) homes I've seen is the unused spaces. Just like you and me they come home from work, use the kitchen, use the bathroom and then go watch the news or whatever. Most of the time all those additional rooms rarely get used. So what's the point?What's important here? I suggest if you have that much disposable money lying around how about using it to provide rooms in some other building for the less fortunate? Why not make it useful to someone who could really use your help. That's what's important to me.

This is me at Holly and Roy's cottage painting sketch canvases of Canoe Lake in the summer of 2011.

This sketch above became this finished painting below

The Pine Tree Painter.

How did I become known as the Pine Tree Painter? You could say I paint a lot of Pine Trees, that would be true. I paint a lot of other things too, but Pine Trees, Spruce Trees, Birch and others seem to be a continuous string in what i do. I just like the way they stand there like a custodian of the land. or a greeter to nature. So, I continue down the path with the Pine Tree Painter name on my head, It's ok. Robert McAffee